Plum Sweet
by E. Ardania
Summary: Based on the books by Janet Evanovich. Stephanie's in for a whole lot more trouble. Ranger's daughter is staying with Ranger for a year. Steph has to help out - while keeping her relationship with Morelli. A Cupcake story. First Fanfic, please R
1. Chapter 1

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**!! WARNING !!  
**

THIS STORY CONTAINS SOME MINOR ADULT THEMES AND HAS SWEARING AND FOUL LANGUAGE,  
WHICH MAY OR MAY NOT OFFEND SOME PEOPLE. SWEAR WORDS HAVE **NOT** BEEN WRITTEN IN ASTERISKS SO  
THIS IS A WARNING FROM THE AUTHOR AND EXPLAINS WHY THIS STORY HAS **BEEN RATED A 'T'**.

_- The author apologises for any inconvenience caused and thanks you for your time -_

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**This story is dedicated to Serafim, for being a great supportive friend and giving me inspirations, and to Selena, my first best friend, who got me into this writing network.**

**I hope you thoroughly enjoy this story - the first one I have written and posted on - so please also review with some feedback! I appreciate that you have taken your time to read this story, it makes me feel that someone likes the style I write in.**

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**Plum Sweet**

_Chapter One_

The moment I left my car I knew something was wrong. The Buick didn't seem right. I walked around the car, staring at the Buick. Its light blue colour was dull against the moonlight. I sighed. _Having weird suspicions again,_ I told myself.

Pretty lately I've been annoyed with myself. I can't seem to do anything right. Just last week my apartment got ransacked. And then my Mercedes was blown up. Right now it was dead in the night. I rummaged in my bag, trying to find my cell phone. _Shit, shit, shit,_ I thought. _ I didn't leave it in the apartment…Did I?_ Finally, I found it. My fingers hesitated. I paused, and then called Morelli.

"Hey cupcake," Morelli answered. "Having a good day?"

"No."

"Well?"

I didn't say anything. I bit my lower lip.

"Steph?" Morelli pressed.

"I'm hopeless," I manage to say. "Everything's going wrong. I think someone's going to kill me and that the Buick is going to be sent to car heaven."

"Christ," Morelli said. "What's wrong with you lately? You always come to me when you get upset. Like last time your apartment got burnt to a cinder. You came to me."

"Well…" I paused. Silence. "I need your help again then."

Morelli sighed at the other end. "What now? You need another car?"

"No."

"Then?"

"I'm depressed. Can I stay at your house for a while? I don't feel like staying in my apartment. It's got death cooties. I'm scared of death cooties." You're lying, Stephanie, I said to myself. It's not good to lie. Mental note.

"You shouldn't be lying to me, cupcake. I know when you're lying to me, especially as I'm a cop."

"But I don't want to live in an apartment with death cooties. It scares me."

"Cupcake, you scare _me_. And I can hear yourself giving yourself a mental note."

"You are such a fucking jerk!" I yelled into the phone. I disconnected and recklessly threw my phone back in my bag.

Life for me pretty much sucks. I've got two men in my life and still don't know where to place them. First thing was Morelli. I'd known him for years. Half the time he wanted to marry me. The other half was spent not knowing what to do with me. And I definitely knew what he could do on the half where he wanted to marry me. That's why I'm always on the pill when I live at his place. Then, our family gets the wrong idea. My mother would think I'd married Morelli and Morelli's family would think I'm pregnant. On the other hand, there's Ranger. I haven't known Ranger as long as Morelli but I'm definitely attracted to him…in a way. I'm not saying that I like Ranger or Morelli better. I like them both. And it's not because they're good in the bedroom. It's because they care about me. Which is the best thing about them both.

My phone rang. I pulled it out of my bag. "Hello?"

"Cupcake, about the moving in thing – "

I bit my lip. "Yeah. What about it?"

"Well you can move in. But you got to promise that you won't blow the garage up or burn the house down or anything. If something like that happens and it's your fault, you're out."  
"You wouldn't do that," I said. "I'll pay you rent."

There was silence. "You don't have to pay rent, whatever you're thinking of. I've got a spare bedroom. You can sleep there. Just promise that you won't do anything crazy, Cupcake."

"I don't do crazy things," I retorted loudly, but he had hung up. Argh. I banged my head against the steering wheel.

Morelli's front door opened. The light flooded out from the doorway. Morelli was dressed in jeans and a navy t-shirt. He was holding his gun, staring out at me. I put my head back on the steering wheel of the Buick. The passenger car door opened up and then closed. I felt Morelli's hand on mine. I looked up.

"You coming in or not?" he asked, smiling. He leaned over and kissed me gently. "Come on, Steph. You need sleep. Look at you."  
I sighed. "What's wrong with me?"

"Well," Morelli started, "you've got bags under your eyes. Your eyes are bloodshot. Your hair's a fucking mess. You shirt's almost torn to shreds. If I keep listing you'll be here until the sun comes up."

I put my head back on the wheel. "I'm tired."

Morelli slid his hand up my shirt and onto my back. He kissed me on my neck and I could feel his tongue against my skin.

I let out a shriek and took my head and hands off the steering wheel. "OK. I'm going already."

Morelli smiled and slid his hand off my back. He opened the door on his side and slammed it shut. Then he came over to my side, pulled open the door, took my arm and pulled my out. I leaned against him for support. He whispered something into my ear about getting some sleep while I still could, locked the car and holstered his gun. He picked me up and carried me inside.


	2. Chapter 2

**Plum Sweet**

_Chapter Two_

I could feel the sunlight on my face. I gave a muffled moan and turned over in my bed. Someone pulled the quilt off me. I gave a small scream before I saw Morelli with his hands on his hips, staring at me.

"I'm awake already!" I told him, gathering up the quilt and pulling it over my face. My answer came out muffled.

"Sure you were. You were still turning over in your bed when I came in." He yanked the quilt back off me.

I sat up and rubbed my eyes and my face. Morelli was damn annoying, and he was already dressed for the day. I glanced at the alarm clock. "_Shit!_ What the hell Morelli?" It was seven-thirty. "I need my fucking sleep!"

"Cupcake, you got all the sleep you need already." He strode to the side of my bed and kissed me lightly. "I'm going to a stakeout. Decided to tell you before I left." He grinned.

"You could have left a note," I complained.

"I thought it'd be better if you woke up, too." Another grin.

"Go away."

"No."

"Jesus Christ!" I yelled. "GET OUT!"

Morelli put up his hands as in an I-give-up gesture. "All right. Calm down." He headed for the door. "Oh, and by the way, you might want to go shopping today. The fridge is empty." He went out of the room and shut the door behind him.

I buried my face in my pillow. Great. He wakes me up at seven-thirty in the morning and now he wants me to do grocery shopping. Oh boy. I hauled myself out of bed. I walked aimlessly into the bathroom, finished up there and went downstairs. Morelli had already made coffee and some lasagna was left over from last night. Mama Morelli makes nice lasagna. Which is good for the family and her, but not good for me. I have a thing for desserts and tasty things. And more than half the time, the tasty things are quick and easy. Like instant pasta that you throw in the microwave. Take it out. Pour canned tomato and sauce over it. Done. That's how I make my meals.

Bob came in, so I fed him his doggie biscuits and put him outside for a while. Bob would eat anything you gave him, so also gave him some lasagna that I saved.

I put my dish in the sink and rinsed it. I stared at the other plate in the sink that had been put there. And for some reason I washed both of them and put them to dry. I was still staring at the plates when I was done. It was nine when I finished everything. I decided to go shopping.

I put the cans of spaghetti into the cupboard. There. Everything was put away, so I was left with nothing to do. I needed company. I picked up the phone and called Ranger's cell phone. He didn't answer. I called RangeMan. Still not answer. I called his car phone. Same result. I put the phone down. Mental reminder. _Walk Bob!_ I grabbed the leash and the small plastic bag for his poop. Bob ran towards me and I managed to stop him before he bowled me over. I hooked the leash onto him and pulled him out onto the sidewalk.

I padded over to the couch and slumped down on it. _Walk Bob - done, _I checked that task off my mental checklist. I flipped on the television and watched for a couple of hours. The next time I looked at the clock it was six. Great. I had already wasted enough time. I turned off the TV and stomped upstairs. I shut myself in the bathroom for the next half hour, having a shower and doing my hair. I changed into a black knit dress and swapped my sneakers for some matching pumps. I went back downstairs and began to prepare dinner.

The front door opens and closes. That can only be one thing. Morelli's home. He came into the kitchen and stopped. It must have been quite funny seeing me prepare dinner. I had defrosted some vegetables and boiled them and put spaghetti on the stove to cook. I turned around to see Morelli smiling at me. I swear he was biting his lip to stop himself from laughing.

"What?"

"You're getting the hang of being a housewife." He put his hands on my waist and nuzzled my shoulder.

"AM NOT! You're always looking for trouble!"

"Oh really?" Morelli murmured, releasing his hands off me and kissing my cheek. He walked over to the fridge and pulled the door open. "Did you buy any beer?"

"Yes."

"So did anything interesting happen at work today?" I asked him.

He took out two bottles. I rolled my eyes. He put them on the table and helped me serve dinner. "No, not really," he replied. "Fucking lunatic rammed into Eddie and sent him to hospital. He swore he was looking out for peds. Really bad liar. Cuffed him and took him to the police station. Started swearing like shit and kicked me in the shin. Bloody bastard," Morelli looked down at his left leg.

"That all you did at the stakeout?"

"Well, yeah. What did you expect?"

"Something more exciting."

"Christ." Morelli sighed. "Being a cop isn't as exciting as being a bounty hunter. But being a cop is safer than getting your car blown up and your apartment firebombed and -"

"OK, OK," I snapped. "I get the point already. Dinner's ready." Morelli smiled at me.

I let Bob into the house and we sat down to eat.

I sat at the table, watching Morelli eat. He took his fork and the spaghetti wrapped around it in layers. Just like a hug. The fork went into his mouth. When the fork came out the spaghetti was gone. After a while he realized that I wasn't eating anything.

He stopped and wiped his mouth with a napkin. He looked at me fondly and rested his elbows on the tabletop.

"Why aren't you eating anything?" he asked, putting his fork down.

I shrugged. "Don't feel like eating." I tilted my head down and looked at the spaghetti, looping around in whirls and interweaving each other. I suddenly felt sick. For no reason. _Calm down, Stephanie_, I told myself. Mental prep talk.

"Are you alright, Cupcake?"

I nodded, but I wasn't. _Liar, liar, mouth on fire,_ I hissed in my mind. My stomach felt bad. I put my hand to my mouth. I was going to throw up and I could feel my face paling. Morelli sensed this and pushed his chair back. He went over to me and lifted me up onto my feet. I was going to blow any minute now. He carried me upstairs and pushed me into the bathroom. I grasped the edge and I vomited into the sink.

"Nasty, Steph," Morelli said. "Food poisoning?"

"I don't -" I threw up again. I felt tired. I felt faint and distant.

"Steph," I heard Morelli say. "Steph! Are you OK? Stephanie!"

I swayed for a moment, then blacked out. I sensed some movement as Morelli reached out to save me, but my nerves reacted harshly as I hit the bathroom floor.


	3. Chapter 3

**Plum Sweet**

_Chapter Three_

I felt a warm hand on my cheek. _God, I must be dreaming,_ I said to myself in my brain. My head hurt a lot, and I had no recollection of what happened.

"Steph?" someone whispered.

I squeezed my eyes tightly, even though they were shut, and opened them slowly. The brightness almost blinded me instantly. I gave out a moan and closed my eyes shut again. My fingers touched a soft blanket. I clasped my fingers securely and bunched it up, pulling it over my head.

"Steph," someone said into my ear. His lips brushed my ear when he said my name... "Steph. Wake up, cupcake."

Whoever it was, he took the top of the blanket and peeled it off my head. "You'll suffocate yourself."

I gave a little bit of effort to open my eyes into a slit. The light flooded into my eyes. "Joe? Is that you?"

Morelli pulled me into his arms and held me tight. He kissed me gently on the lips, his hands behaving themselves. He pulled himself away from me and caressed my cheeks with his hands. "I'm glad you're back," he said quietly.

"W-w-w-what happened?" I couldn't help stuttering. I looked around me. _White_. White! I couldn't stand white! It was too clean. "I'm in hospital?"

Morelli kissed my forehead. "Well, yes. You passed out, so I took you to hospital."

"You know I can't stand hospitals!" I exclaimed, almost leaping out of my bed. "What happened?"

"Well..." Morelli said slowly, as if thinking about what to say. "We were having dinner, and you were watching me eat. I could tell something wasn't right."

_You psycho,_ I thought to myself. _You were staring at Morelli. While he was eating his dinner. What the hell were you thinking? What type of idea is that?  
_

"And then," Joe continued, "I asked if you were OK. You said you were fine, but when I looked at you, you were so pale I got scared. Then you made gestures that meant you were going to throw up. So..."

_So I threw up?_ I was trying to put the pieces together - without much success. As always.

"I got you to your feet, carried you upstairs into the bathroom. You vomited into the sink twice, and then passed out. I tried to grab you and break your fall, but you hit the bathroom floor. You konked out. And I was fucked-up scared. I thought you'd broken you neck. So I called the medics and they took you here."

I tried lifting my head, but the pain surged through and I thumped back onto the pillow. "Argh." I used my elbows to try and stabilize myself. I just collapsed back down onto the bed. "I can't even get up," I complained. Flopping over onto my side, I looked at Morelli. His eyes were focused on me.

"Need help?" he raised his eyebrows and smiled. He bent over and lifted me up slightly so my back was against the pillow.

"Jeez, that's better. Thanks." I put my arms on top of the blanket and stretched them. He kissed the back of my hand and sent a surge of warmth through my body, from the top of my head to my toes. I couldn't help myself and grabbed his shirt. I pulled him closer to me and my lips met his. His hands found their way onto my back and pressed me into his chest. Our tongues frolicked inside each others' mouths and the kiss turned more demanding and passionate. At last I pulled myself away and gazed into his eyes. _Mmm, chocolate,_ I thought to myself.

"Oh yeah." Morelli released me, his eyes still fixed on me, and sat down on the edge of the bed. "You parents and your Grandma are having dinner with my mother and my Grandma, on the day after tomorrow. They said that if you came out of hospital by then you had to come." I gave an involuntary shudder. "Don't worry," Morelli said, placing his hand on mine. He squeezed gently. "I'll have to come, too. You know parents."

The point about my parents was that if they told you to come to dinner, you go. If you didn't, my mother would basically wring the reason out of you. That's my mother. My father doesn't actually care much. My mother is a tick off psychotic. My Grandma Mazur is half-mad, too. Not about dinners. She likes it when I bring Morelli along with me because she likes to see men. She especially likes Ranger. Which is crazy, considering she's old enough to be his grandma, too. Once I told Ranger that my Grandma Mazur wanted to see him naked, he told me she was scary. Which is true - about most of the time.

The next day, I was allowed to leave hospital - which made me half glad and half troubled. Leaving the hospital meant that I had to face dinner with my parents, which was worse than eating hospital meals. But hospital meals are total bullshit and my mother's cooking was better by a mile.

"Well," Morelli said as we drove back to his house. "Now you're out of hospital you gotta - "

"Don't remind me."

Morelli looked at me. "...go to the dinner with the family."

"Shut up! Jesus Christ," I said as I slumped into the seat. "I hate having dinner with my parents. If you say one more thing about the dinner today I swear I'm going to shoot you. I'm not in a fucking good mood."

"You wouldn't shoot me," Morelli said matter-of-factly. Which was correct. _Fuck Morelli,_ I thought. _He's always right. I wouldn't shoot him._ "You'd probably hit me and then say sorry." _Damn right. What a bastard._ "Anyway," Morelli continued, "Ranger called you but I told him you were in hospital. He told me to tell you to call him back."

Oh boy. "Sounds fun."

"Cupcake, I wouldn't tell you not to call him back. I don't want him coming over and breaking into my house in the middle of the night. I probably get my gun and shoot him and he'd probably shoot the crap out of me."

Like I would want him to wake me up and shoot the crap out of me, too.


	4. Chapter 4

**Plum Sweet**

_Chapter 4_

The first thing I did when I got back to Morelli's was feed Rex. Morelli said he fed Rex some bit of pie crust but I wanted to make sure that Rex was OK. I dropped a marshmallow into his cage and topped up his water. "Did Morelli treat you alright?" I asked Rex. He just looked at me with his little black beady eyes, stuffed the marshmallow into his mouth and went back into his can. What a great life to live. I mean, Morelli's not the best at looking after hamsters. Neither is Ranger. And that reminded me. Call Ranger. Right. _Shit,_ I walked over to the phone.

I called Rangeman first, just in case he was still working. I drummed my fingers against the kitchen counter as I waited for him to pick up. _Come on Ranger. Pick up the bloody phone._ Then the answer machine came on. I hung up, and decided to try his car phone next. No luck on that, either. So last, but not least, his cell phone.

"Yo."

"Yo yourself, Ranger. What do want to talk about? Or want to ask me?"

There was a silence for a moment. "Tank and I need a distraction to clear a house. Do you think you're up for it?"

"No!" I yelled into the phone.

Morelli called from upstairs. "What's wrong, Cupcake?"

"Nothing!" I called back.

I could feel Ranger laughing on the other side. "Hey," I said. "Fuck, no laughing. It was your fault in the first place."

"Babe."

"Is that all you wanted to ask me?" I replied flatly. "No, I'm not helping you secure a building. Last time I looked like a total 'ho and the guy almost had me done for." Which was true. Last time I had agreed to pretend to be a 'ho. My job was to distract that guy until Ranger, Tank and Lester were done clearing out his apartment. That job would have been easy-peasy, except the guy was a perv. We had went into his house to see what stuff he'd been up to and apparently the only things he did on the computer were surfing on porn sites and having internet sex. When Ranger and his friends went to clear out the apartment, I was made to be a distraction. I had him where I wanted him - not thinking about the loud banging and the sound of furniture being moved around. But then he was difficult. He had me pinned to the ground, and was bearing all his weight upon me. He lifted my teeny-weeny skirt and proceeded to say some dirty suggestions and about how much he'll pay me. But luckily, Ranger was finished, and saved me. Classic heroic rescue.

"Look, I don't want you to dress up all nicely tonight. I just need you to get the guy out of his house while we throw all his stuff around." Which is almost what I did last time.

"Does this include me having to shoot him after you're done?" I shuddered at the thought of Tank throwing a drug dealer out a window from three stories up, it's happened before. And I didn't like it.

"No."

"That's alright. But it's still a no." I heard Ranger laugh as I said it. Talk about me being his 'sunshine'. Fucking 'no-shine' more like it. I'm hardly ever positive.

"Hey, Babe, there's something else I want to talk to you about," Ranger said rather nervously. I've never heard Ranger sound nervous. He's always calm. And he never needs advice.

"Yeah. Go ahead." I was curious, because one: Ranger sounded a tad bit worried, and two: Ranger sounded nervous. And they were both symptoms of something wrong, or was going to go wrong.

"You remember my daughter, Julie?" he asked.

"Yes." You bet I do.

"Well. . . she's coming over to Trenton to stay with me for a year. Her mother and stepfather are going to have a baby and they don't want her to feel left out when her mother's pregnant and that she'll stress herself out. The step-dad doesn't know how to look after Julie because her mother mainly looked after her, and he's clueless, basically. So they decided to send her to me to stay for a year." Ranger paused, then continued, "Of course I agreed. I'm pleased, but I have no idea what to do. And if it was a boy I could have him stay at RangeMan with Lester, Tank, Bobby and the others, but it's a girl. And I'm blank on what girls want to do. Especially when they're with their dads." That was the longest ever speech Ranger has said all in one go.

_Ommigod, _I thought. _Ranger's worried about having a daughter stay with him. And...uh oh!  
_

"And I was wondering," Ranger said slowly, "if she could stay with you for a little while while I go on this case that's coming up. Pretty sure it won't be for long. Do you think you could help me, Babe?" I could feel the weight of the favour that he was asking.

I thought for a moment. "What do you want me to do with her, though? Do you want her to stay with me at Morelli's house? What do you want me to do?"

"I don't mind," Ranger replied. "As long as Morelli doesn't mind she can. And do what you think girls like doing."

"OK then. I'll look after Julie for a while, but you have to take her back and look after her and everything, OK?" I bit my lower lip. _Shit. Look what I got myself into! Now you got another task to do! _I added it onto my list of to-do's in life. _Looking after Julie isn't going to be a big issue. And besides, Ranger will have the case wrapped up in no time. Maybe a week at the most. Ranger's a legend._

"Babe," he said, interrupting my thoughts. Before I had time to say anything, he hung up.


	5. Chapter 5

**Plum Sweet**

_Chapter 5_

It was the next day and I was still being annoyed, so I sat down on the couch and pondered for a moment on the situation. _Why did I say yes? _I asked myself. I cupped my chin in my hands and mentally listed some things I could do with Julie. In fact, I had almost no ideas. The only ideas I had were to take her to the beach and to take her shopping. That's about it. _But you can't take Julie shopping every single day. _Dammit.

Morelli came downstairs. "What's up, Cupcake?" He sat down next to me.

"What do you think girls like doing?" I asked him.

"Shopping. Going to the beach. I don't know."

I sighed. Morelli had listed exactly the same things as I did.

He turned to me and held me closer to him. It was so cold outside, and he was so warm. I rested my cheek against chest. I could feel his heart beating and his lungs taking in and expelling air. What a nice feeling. He ran his fingers through my curls. "Why?"

"Nothing much," I replied. "Ranger's daughter's staying with him for a while. He asked me if I could look after her while he works on this case that he opted for. Does it sound alright if Julie stays for a few days here?"

Morelli pressed his lips into a straight line. I could tell he was thinking by the way his jaw muscles seemed clenched beneath the skin. I prodded his arm gently.

"Pretty please?" I asked him and did my best puppy eye impression. "I promise she won't cause any trouble. I'll take her out shopping and keep her out of your way and I swear she won't do anything wrong. Please..."

Morelli tugged my hair playfully. "As long as you keep your promises, Cupcake, and promise me a little bit more."

Oh boy.

"Hey." Morelli's voice pierced my thoughts. "Remember, dinner tonight with both of our families? Get dressed." He pushed me up the stairs and into the bedroom. I flung open the my wardrobe door and rummaged through.

"I can't find anything," I complained, and stepped back. Morelli sighed. He brushed past me and poked around a little. He pulled out a red strapless dress that had a silk sash wound the middle. If I wore it, the hem would reach down just above my knees. He held it out with one hand towards me and put his other hand on his hip.

"What did you mean you couldn't find anything?" he raised an eyebrow. "And I'm not finding you shoes that you are going to wear because you can find your own." He threw the dress towards me and smiled. "Do you want to be late, as usual? Get going." He pulled open his wardrobe to find something to wear. _Dammit_, I stared at him as he inspected the suits that were hanging. He picked out a grey one and proceeded to get changed. I wanted to drop the dress I was holding and pounce on him. I wanted to rip off all his clothes. And I wanted to do it badly. _Better not, _I thought. _Both our mothers would be 'disappointed'. And they'd know what we were doing, anyway. _Morelli glanced at me.

I placed the dress on the bed and hurriedly stepped out of my jeans. I pulled off my t-shirt and slipped the dress over my head and pulled it down a bit. Someone pulled the zip at the back. I shrieked and whipped around to see Morelli grinning at me.

"Don't do that!"

"You had 'the look'."

"No I didn't!" I went back to the wardrobe and pulled out some red heels. I put them on and then stared at myself in the mirror.

"Cute," Morelli commented. He took a step towards me and pulled my dress around a little bit.

"Shut up!" I glared at his reflection. He was smiling. What a jerk. I turned around and pushed his hands off my waist. "Stop it." I put my hands on my hips and stared as seriously as I could manage at him.

Morelli grinned. "Do you want to be late just a little while?"

"No!"

He leaned over and stroked my cheek. "I think we could afford to have some. Just this once. You look nice. No." Morelli whispered into my ear, lips brushing against my earlobes. "You don't look nice at all. You look dangerous."

I tried to push him away, but he had me cornered. He pressed me against the wall gently and nuzzled my shoulder playfully. "Take off the dress," he murmured. "Take off _everything._" I was tempted to do what he said. I could feel the blood rushing to the stomach and below. But I had to try and stop him.

"No. Joe, we have to go..." I tried a weak protest. I attempted again to push him away, but he was overpowering. He kissed my neck intimately and that set off my trigger.

Morelli had his hands on my waist, but they were slowly moving towards my chest. I put my mouth firmly against his and my tongue made its own mind up once it was inside. He gave me a playful squeeze of my ass.

"That does it," I said. I pulled off his shirt and proceeded to take off his belt. I had some trouble with the buckle but he helped me. I felt his eyes on me the entire time. I pulled my dress off and flung it away. Morelli whispered something and then picked me up. He dropped me on the bed and lightly bit my shoulder. His hands slipped underneath me and unclasped my bra.

"Mmm," I moaned as his lips closed over my nipple. His body descended and pressed against me. He began to lick. _Jesus Christ, _I thought. That only sent my orgasm to higher levels. I grabbed his hair. I must have tugged or something because the next thing I knew he was looking at me apologetically, his melting eyes studying mine.

"Am I too heavy?" he asked. I didn't say anything, I was only gasping for air. "I'll take that as a yes," he replied. He lifted himself off me and put his weight on his elbows and continued his work.

Suddenly I felt something rise in my throat. "Joe..." I started to say.

"Hmm?" He lifted his head and gazed at me.

"I feel s-" I slapped one hand over my mouth to stop me from throwing up on him. I used my other free hand to push him away. He seemed to get the point and quickly stopped. He slid off the bed and carried me into the bathroom.

I threw up the minute my head above the toilet.

"Food poisoning?" Morelli was rubbing my back.

"Not funny," I glared at him for a second before I threw up again.


	6. Chapter 6

**Plum Sweet**

_Chapter 6_

By the time we finally arrived at my parents' house we were already twenty minutes late. Which was great. I meant it. Now our parents knew _exactly_ what we do before dinners. At least, the dinners we come late to. Together.

"Jeez," I said to Joe as we walked to the front door. "Next time, I'm going to _make _you not want to have sex. I'm going to put on lots of fat if I have to and put on the most unrevealing dress. Next time we are _NOT _coming late for dinner. Or whatever." I paused in thought. Joe pulled me in and kissed me. My blood rushed into my cheeks.

"Feel better?" he asked smugly.

"Hmph." I knocked on the door and crossed my arms over my chest. I could possibly try ignoring Morelli. Like, hell, that would work.

"You're thinking about ignoring me," Morelli grinned. _Dammit. Read my mind. Again._

"No I wasn't." Before he could say something, my mother had flung open the door.

"Stephanie!"

"I'm sorry, Mum about..."

"No you're not."

I sighed. I wasn't going to win a fight tonight with my mother. Might as well give in. "OK, I'm not that sorry. But I'm still sorry, alright?" I tried to look over her shoulder. "Is Grandma Bella here?" I asked her in a whisper.

"Yes," my mother said loudly. I bet she was doing it deliberately.

Mama Morelli came around the corner. "Joseph!" She walked over and slapped Joe on the head. "You should know better. You knew that you should have came to dinner tonight. _On time_," she stressed on the last part. She shook her head. "I imagine poor Stephanie had to put up with you. _And_ your bad driving." She evil-eyed Joe.

"How do you know about how I drive?" Joe asked his mother. His jaw twitched slightly. I could tell he was trying not to laugh.

"How do I know!" Mama Morelli snapped. "I've seen you drive. Just because you're a cop doesn't mean you can speed whenever you like. I've seen you whip around corners and across lanes and everything." Joe couldn't hold on any longer. He smiled.

Mama Morelli slapped him. And it was probably a bit harder that usual because Joe started to rub his head.

"Are you OK?" I asked him, stroking his arm.

"Yeah. I'm pretty much fine." Morelli smiled down at me. "Although it is still a tiny bit sore."

"Come in," my mother broke in. "I don't want you to catch a cold."

* * *

The dinner went wrong - badly. Grandma Mazur managed to dress just as normal. In her standards, it was normal. And I'm not going to go into detail what she wore. The only important thing was that upside-down pineapple cake was for dessert. My mother managed to compose herself and stop herself from scolding me off when I rushed off to the bathroom.

All through dinner my mother was giving Joe looks and Mama Morelli was giving me looks. I felt the tiniest of the tense atmosphere. Grandma Bella was eyeing me, too, which just added to my frustration. Finally, Mama Morelli spoke.

"Well, Joseph," she said slowly, putting down her knife and fork as she spoke. She glanced at me and then fixed her eyes on Joe. "It's been quite a while..."

"No, Ma," Joe said firmly.

"It's time to do so," she persisted. Then she sighed. "I don't know how to do this, Joseph. But you have to..."

Grandma Bella stood up so suddenly her chair fell backwards. "You!" she shrieked, pointing her finger at me. I widened my eyes and pushed me seat an inch away from the table.

"Grandma, sit down," Joe said, standing up and leaning across the table to face his grandmother. His hair cast a shadow onto his face, darkening it. You could almost swear that he killed people for a living.

"No. YOU sit down." Grandma Bella crooked her finger at her eye. "I'm having a vision. And it concerns you." Her finger concentrated on me again. My breathing stopped.

"Stop trying to scare Stephanie," Joe said, in what seemed to be a weak defence for me. "Leave her alone."

My mother pursed her lips, but didn't say anything. My father put more upside-down pineapple cake into his mouth, looking very intent on eating. Mama Morelli shifted uncomfortably in her seat. I cleared my throat.

"Grandma, _sit down._" It was Joe's last request nicely.

Grandma Bella closed her eyes and dropped into her chair. A moment later she struck a finger into my face and cried, "You're pregnant! You're trying to hide it from Joseph!" Her tone started to turn from uncertain to angry. "Do you hear me? You don't tell lies to my Joseph! You're pregnant! You can't hide the facts from me, you -"

"Grandma!" Joe shouted at Grandma Bella and slammed his hands on the table. I bit my lower lip and closed my eyes. I counted to ten, slowly, and then opened my eyes. Grandma Bella was exiting the dining room with Mama Morelli helping her. Joe had sat down with a dark scowl on his face. I touched his arm gently.

His head jerked up at my touch and he smiled weakly. "I'm sorry, Steph," he murmured. He sighed, turning to me and held my hand to his lips. "I suppose my mother is right. I need to settle down." He dropped me hand back onto my lap and rubbed his face with his hands.

"Do you want to go home now?" my mother asked anxiously. She glanced at me and answered her question herself. "I'll pack some cake for you, if you want." She hurriedly stood up and walked briskly into the kitchen. I patted Joe's arm with hope it would comfort him a little bit, and called, "No, it's alright. I can do one night without taking home dessert." My mother appeared in the doorway and clasped her hands together.

"Well I guess we must be going now," I said quickly. Joe nodded, his lips pressed into a thin line. Which I took was not good. Joe stood up and pushed the chair back in place.

"Thanks for the dinner, Mrs. Plum," he said, trying his best to smile. "I'm sorry for the things that..."

"It's alright," my mother replied in a rushed tone. "It's no problem at all."

I smiled at Joe and slipped my hand into mine. He looked down at me and squeezed my hand gently, kissing me lightly on the forehead.

* * *

On the way to his house, I heard my cellphone ring. Joe looked at me with his eyebrows raised.

I rolled my eyes and put the phone to my ear. "Hi, Ranger."

I sensed Morelli's eyes on me as I spoke.

"Hey, Babe."

"What's up? Calling at this time." In fact it was a stupid comment. It was only nine.

"I'm at the airport." A pause. "I'm picking Julie up. Do you think she can get to you tomorrow?"

I looked at Morelli and put my hand over the phone. "Can Julie come tomorrow?" I asked as nicely as I could.

Morelli sighed. "Yeah, sure... she can use the guest room. Remember your promises." Morelli can be a jerk sometimes.

I put the phone to my ear again. "Yeah, she can. Joe's fine with it, so am I."

In fact, I was _not _fine with it. I hadn't even given a thought to what I should do with Julie. _She's ten, _I thought. _Ten year olds aren't that hard to handle. _

"Thanks, Babe," Ranger said. "I'll get her to you at around about two in the afternoon. I'll take care of lunch that day, so don't worry." He hung up.

_Was there one time where I hung up before he did?_ I rolled my eyes and put the phone back into my bag. Morelli turned into the driveway, and stopped for me to get out.

I walked over to the front door and bounded up the steps with the strange energy I always got when I was home. There was a little sticky-note. I peered at it and pulled it off the door.

**"You can run, but you can't hide. While the cat's away, the mice will play."**

* * *


End file.
